Improvement in packages for plug-tobacco



E. R. HBARN. Package for Plug-Tobacco.

Patented March 12, I878.

Yihwa b M. X65 6% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

; EDWIN R. HEARN, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN PACKAGES FOR PLUG -TOBACQO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 201,245, dated March 12, 1878 application filed December 24, 1877.

a useful Improvements in Packages of Plug- Tobacco, of which the following is a specifi- V cation:

I compress together a numberof ordinarilyfinished plugs, each having its separate wrapper, and envelop the whole, before it has had time to swell, in a thick envelope of dry material, the last joining-edge of which is secured by nails driven through it into the tobacco, and holding firmly therein.

The invention is intended as a substitute, not for the ordinary envelope of leaf-tobacco around each plug, but for the packing-box, usually large, and from economic considerations necessarily so.

Tobacco deteriorates by being long in an open box. There are small retailers who would require many months to dispose of a forty-pound box of any brand, or of all brands.

I have in my experiments made my small package of strawboard, and find it peculiarly useful. Its dryness and highly absorbent quality induces a more than usually thorough absorption of the moisture from the surfaces of the mass, and thereby conduces to resist the tendency to mold.

The following is a description of what I consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a cross-section through the plugs of tobacco in the tightly-compressed condition in which they are taken from a strong compressing box (not represented) and readily transferred to the straw-board envelope. Fig. 2 represents the straw-board envelope with the tobacco inclosed, in two conditions. The dotted lines show it open, ready to receive the tobacco. The full lines show it closed and secured. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the package complete, ready for storage or shipment.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

A A are plugs of tobacco, which may be thoroughly compressed and smoothly finished by the ordinary treat-ment. A sufficient number for my small package are piled properly together, and subjected to a strong compression in suitable temporary boxes or pots. (Not represented.) After remaining therein a sufiicient time, they are liberated, and as rapidly as possible, without allowing time for expansion, they are inclosed in a covering already partially formed, composed of straw-board B, with end pieces 0 of wood, applied together as represented.

To facilitate the turning of the corners, the straw-board may be partially cut through along the line, to form each angle, as indicated byb.

The package should be made of such length that the wood end pieces 0 match closely against the ends of the inclosed tobacco-plugs. Nails 6 secure the straw-board B to the ends 0, and a series of similar nails, 6, secure the final or the last edge of the straw-board not onlyto the adjacent straw-board, but also to the tobacco itself.

I can use a wider straw-board, which will cause the last part or fold to lap farther over the first part, or I can use straw-board of less Width and cause it to lap less; but I prefer the proportions shown, whereby the nails 6 will engage with the tobacco along the center of one of the faces. It is important (especially with tobacco which has any trade marks or other decorations or distinctive marks on its flat faces) that the edges rather than the faces of the plugs shall be presented toward the nails 6.

The surface of the straw-board itself may be decorated. It may be varnished or variously coated to make it impermeable from the outside; but it is important that the interior be kept in its natural absorbent condition, to take away rather than retain dampness in the contents.

I esteem straw-board or equivalent absorbent material important; but wood veneers or other material than straw-board may be used with some success, and realize some part of the advantages of the invention.

The edges of the envelope B may be cemented but the nailing through into the tobacco is important to thecomplete firmness of my package, and to the convenience of the purchaser in opening it. The opening may be effected by a screw-driver, claw-hammer, or

stout knife inserted to pry up the nails and partially unwind the envelope.

My envelopes B may be previously prepared, by machinery or otherwise, to a uniform size sufficient to inclose the tobacco easily and rapidly, and the last edge may be easily secured by nails 0'. The subsequent swelling of the contents causes the envelope to be tightly filled, strains every part to a proper tension, and causes the several faces to be slightly bulged, but not so much as to interfere with the packing.

My packages may be stowed together in large boxes for shipment.

I claim as my invention-- A package of plug-tobacco consisting of the plugs A, pasteboard wrapper B, and wood ends, the pasteboardbeinglapped and secured, substantially as herein specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ED. R. HEARN.

WVitnesses GEORGE W. BARR, A. I. H. ORoAD. 

